Chemical, microbiological, health and comfort aspects of indoor air quality - State of the art in SBS

Abstract

"Sick Building Syndrome" (SBS) is a name for a phenomenon that occurs when an elevated fraction of occupants in large buildings, mostly office buildings, complain about a pattern of symptoms such as mucus irritation, headaches and bad odour, and the symptoms are attributed to poor indoor air quality (IAQ). Furthermore, it is typical of SBS, that the complaints or symptoms are of multifactorial origin. This book contains the lecture notes of a seminar in the Eurocourses series aimed at presenting in depth state-of-the-art knowledge on factors presumed to be involved in SBS. These are derived from complaints to researchers who are actively involved in assessing and investigating IAQ problems related to SBS. Internationally known experts address the following issues: - the dynamics of the indoor environment and strategies for indoor measurements; - chemical and microbiological pollution, important species, sources and detection methods; - effects of indoor pollution and, in particular, sensory irritation including odour, airway, eye and skin irritation, and immune effects including allergic sensitisation and chemical hyper-responsiveness; - controlled human reactions to organic pollutants; - building investigations, approaches and results; - source characterisation and source control; - criteria, norms and techniques to prevent indoor pollution and regulatory aspects.